The Two Pictures Within Kubla Khan - Key

In this project, I have sought to examine and represent the two different pictures that Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan presents to its reader. The poem is unique, as it “appears to follow a dreamlike sequence past numerous, vivid images that are mainly artificial recreations of Coleridge’s previous thoughts and experiences (and therefore) is predominately a mosaic of fragments of thoughts and incomplete themes” (Essay 1). I, however, have not specifically discussed these two contrasting pictures in either of my previous essays.

Coleridge’s initial vision of Kubla Khan’s palace, the sacred river, the deep romantic chasm, the forest, the fountain, and the sea serve as a colorful, chaotic, and fragmented background for the poem. The poem, however, does not merely revolve around this initial landscape. In the latter half of the poem, Coleridge delves further into his subconscious and leads the reader through a past vision – a portrait of a woman playing a dulcimer and singing of the mystical Mount Abora. Both of these seemingly unrelated visions unite to create the mysterious setting of Part I of Kubla Khan that is further supplemented by images of metaphor and imagination. These metaphoric and imaginary images seem to superimpose themselves (as Part II) over the existing landscape to create an ever-increasingly complex and fragmented picture. This superimposed imagery creates an even more disconnected and chaotic scene, and ultimately, a skewed lens that Coleridge places over his visions.

Using two pieces of Plexiglas and latex paint, I have tried to illustrate these two different parts of Kubla Khan and then reattach them to illustrate the separation and unification that occurs in the poem itself.

Part I:

On the first piece I have represented Part I and the stately pleasure-dome with turrets, high walls, and flags within a massive and mountainous setting. The sharp mountains run together with the deep romantic chasm that is sharp and angular. The sacred river winds through the mountains, falls through the chasm, and bursts into an immense fountain at the mouth of the river. The mountains smooth out and form into a hillside, as one looks left to right. The foreground is dominated by an Abyssian maid (an Ethiopian woman) playing the dulcimer (a stringed wooden box that is struck with small hammers). Coleridge, within the text of Kubla Khan, sees the woman playing music and singing of Mount Abora rather than hear her music. Therefore, the object of her song (Mount Abora) appears in her background, as Coleridge sees the object of her music within his vision.

This is the Image of Part I:

Part II:

The second piece of Plexiglas can be placed over the first piece to illustrate the depth that Coleridge’s metaphors and recollections add to his poem in Part II. This second picture only covers certain portions of Part I, and therefore, leaves the majority of Part I to show through. Within this superimposed landscape, the fountain spews hail and covers portions of the first river landscape. The woman wailing for her demon lover under the waning moon becomes a central figure within the combined picture. The thresher and his grain appear above the wailing woman as a haunted, grim-reaper figure. These two figures combine to create a colorless scene of agony and loss and death. The pleasure-dome appears in air and is superimposed over Mount Abora. The woman playing the dulcimer will be transformed into the wizard-like and fierce man, which Coleridge envisions his audience's reaction - 'Beware, Beware!' The audience (at least as Coleridge anticipates) becomes so engaged with this mysterious man that they forget the Abyssian maid. From my perspective, the man appears to exist as a hybred character, as he simultaneously mixes the appearance of a Biblical Moses, Edmund Spenser's wizard from The Faerie Queene, and Coleridge himself.

This is the Image of Part II:

In Conclusion:

These two pictures exist separately and combine to represent the complex and disconnected picture that Coleridge conveys to his audience in his poem Kubla Khan. The two pieces of Plexiglas will be screwed together to illustrate the strong unity that Coleridge creates within Kubla Khan, as he is able to combine these two seemingly ill-reconcilable pictures within a single poem. These two pieces, however, do not perfectly combine into a smooth and singular picture. Similar to the poem, the two pictures do not perfectly connect and actually cultivate a distorting gap between themselves. This project, therefore, has attempted to illustrate how Kubla Khan truly is a mythical fragment that is unable to fully unite its unique imagery and metaphors.

This is the Image of Parts I and II united:

This is an Image Illustrating the Gap Between Parts I and II: